Greetings!  
November has arrived.  I have a love/hate relationship with the month of November. This is a transition month where the trees are bard, the land is brown, the flower beds and gardens are bland and/or are “smoothed” out for the winter and the dead and dried up foliage is composted or in the yard waste landfill.  It tends to be colder, the days are shorter (Daylight Savings 11/03/2024), therefore it provides a longer darker evenings.  Oh yes, I must not forget the surprise first blizzard of the year which may present itself to us before Thanksgiving!  

Ok…what do I love about the month?  I have come to know and trust that under all the barren, cold wasteland…..life is laying dormant only to rise up again in late April…maybe even earlier.  There is life percolating within this barren and brown world.  

In addition, there is “remembering” during this month.  Three important dates are set aside for “remembering” in November.  There are elections most years and the first Tuesday of the month (November 5th). This year it is a Presidential election.  If you are of age, and able- you remember to VOTE. Second, as a country we remember those who served, and who are presently serving in one of the many branches of the military, in time of peace and in time of war.  Third, we remember to put the turkey in the oven, bake the apple pie and remember A LOT OF THINGS on THANKS GIVING DAY (November 28th).

I held back on the statement: “We remember to be thankful.”  I don’t confine our “thanksgiving” to just that one day/holiday!  It is a national holiday that we observe and we hold dear as a nation.  Of course we do that.  But as Christians, I would hope that we rise everyday, year-round and give thanks for ALL that we have.  I think we forget that most of the time….what we have, what we have earned, worked hard for, what makes us happy and brings us joy, what covers our head, puts food on the table is from the Source of all, Creator of all- the God whom we know in Triune fashion: Father, Son and Holy Ghost.  THANKS BE TO GOD!  We do get to remember to get up on the Sabbath, and we get to WORSHIP!  We have the gift of being able to remember and give thanks as individuals as well as in a communal manner in worship!  We even have the opportunity within the worship service to give thanks, remember (Holy Communion) and give back to God through our selves, our time and our possessions (sound familiar?).  

This month of November at Trinity Lutheran we will worship on Sundays, as usual.  There will be some emphasis on “stewarding” our selves, our time, and our possessions.  There will be the annual Women’s Thank-offering Sunday, as well as a Thanksgiving service on the Wednesday eve before Thanksgiving Day (followed by pie and ice cream- here we “steward our calorie intake!!).  There will be Holy Communion on the first and third Sundays (a meal of “remembering” for sure!!), and
There will be preparation for a new church year, which begins after Christ the King Sunday.  Advent begins on Sunday, December 1st!)
As we enter this month of November, I share and close this note with a couple of the Offering Prayers that are found in our Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal…

First one that we use frequently:

Blessed are you, O God, maker of all things. Through your goodness you have blessed us with these gifts: our selves, our time, and our possessions. Use us, and what we have gathered, in feeding the world with your love, through the one who gave himself for us, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.

And then there is this one (there are several others--- check it out in ELW):

Blessed are you, O God, ruler of heaven and earth. Day by day you shower us with blessings. As you have raised us to new life in Christ, give us glad and generous hearts, ready to praise you and to respond to those in need, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.

As we---individuals, as members of a faith community, and members of a national and global family--- move into the month of November, remember who you are and whose you are:  God the Creator, God the Comforter, God the Source of all Life, has called you by name, claimed you as a son/daughter and has promised to be with you always…in all ways.  May your remember this relationship daily and awake to the promises that God has given and REMEMBERS!  Like the world of deep, dark November—there is LIFE and GROWTH…..we just have to be reminded.

May you feel/sense God’s loving, merciful, compassionate embrace as you move through the seasons of the year!

Pastor Carol